Debut New York's Open Call to Designers

DEBUT NEW YORK

DESIGNER OPEN CALL

 

What: Debut New York extends an invitation to new and aspiring womenswear designers to submit portfolios for our inaugural Designer Open Call. In accordance with our aim to introduce distinctive new collections the open call will provide a forum and an opportunity for undiscovered designers to present and sell their work for the Spring 2010 season.

Details: Notice for portfolio submissions is effective immediately calling for designers to send artwork inclusive of sketches and photos to opencall@debutnewyork.com by Tuesday, November 10th. Debut New York will review all material and highlight select entrants on the boutique’s blog (debutnewyork.blogspot.com) throughout the process.

Up to 3 finalists will be designated and invited for a presentation on Tuesday, November 17th at Debut’s Mulberry Street location (those who cannot make it in person will still be considered).

Conclusion: Winner(s) will be announced on Monday, November 23rd, and Debut New York will feature the winning designs in our Spring 2010 lineup.

Wrap Me Up

The general calm and sense of security a perfect, slouchy sweater induces is often undercut by the wearer’s knowledge that the item in question isn’t necessarily as cool or inviting towards others as it ideally would be.

We’ve found the answer to this dilemma in Micaela Greg’s Autumn/Winter 2009 collection – the label’s inaugural – a range of super soft knitwear inspired by optical art and origami folding techniques. The designers are San Francisco-based sisters who had the lofty influences of a master dressmaker grandmother and a grandfather skilled in the fine art of shoemaking and pursuant of the inventive properties lurking in the design world. With inherited attention to perfect craftsmanship and a natural inclination towards the innovative the sisters achieved design school degrees in knitwear (Masters at that) and design with an emphasis on pattern-making. The collective experiences bred a debut collection founded on patterns and structures out of the ordinary that celebrate an authentic design tradition and capture an insouciant, downtown attitude of modernity.

We’ve recently been reaching quickly for the open-front cocoon sweater created with spun sugar wool in milk-and-cookies black and white; warming when it needs to be, and light and breathable when the sun hits our shoulders during Sunday afternoon brunch. At night we were curled up on the sofa of our glowing apartments wearing the lean, perfectly tailored optic knit leggings, which on a more ambitious evening we’d pair with heels and a sharp, long blazer for dinner. And while it isn’t all knitwear all of the time for us, it could be – Micaela Greg’s butterfly wing draped skirt has a twisted-classic appeal that will work in the office on Monday with a bare leg, or over-the-knee boots. 

* above: trapezoid high-waisted "butterfly" skirt

 

* above left: classic slim-fit "geo" cardigan, above right: oversized optical "cocoon" sweater

 

* above left: "op" leggings, above right: "geo" leggings

Fashion Reverberation

The froth of “Fashion Month” has lost a bit of its addictive essence, and editors have returned to their desks (finally!), remembered what their fall clothes look like (it’s officially cold in the fashion capitals) and perhaps embarked on side travels to cover the Frieze Art Fair and Los Angeles Fashion Week. In the throes of the season Debut New York remains focused on what’s next, and turns with renewed anticipation to Japan Fashion Week taking place presently half a world away in Tokyo. 

Specifically one of our current in-store favorites will be showing his second collection, and we find it fitting to focus on the premier range - exclusively available in the Americas at Debut – of Sachio Kawasaki. His namesake collection is a study of depth in every sense. The formally trained designer studied in London at the Chelsea College of Art & Design and Central Saint Martins - with a stint at Balenciaga to boot – and officially debuted for the Autumn/Winter 2009 season with a runway show at Japan Fashion Week (his graduate collection for A/W 2008 was presented in London). The designer fuses the multi-dimensional elements of textile and structure to create a pure aesthetic stretching beyond basic luxury, and into fine art territory.

Titled “Wave of Sound,” the collection is simple, yet deceptively elegant. Kawasaki’s creations are whipped up with the intrinsically linked components of inspired, unique 2-D patterns and 3-D shapes, and softly, precisely draped into the most wearable separates that attain a new manipulation and balance of proportion.

The purity of this approach has rendered the perfect Little Black dress, albeit one with a subtle, origami-like construction in the lightest silk. A Mia Farrow circa Rosemary’s Baby empire waist blouson sleeve dress appears at first glance to be made from lustrous duchess satin, yet is in fact a smooth and sculpted cashmere/silk blend of ivory with jet black looping graphic lines that draw the eye across natural contours – a true harmony.

Heard: Debut New York Fetes

Please join us this week on Tuesday and Wednesday for two distinctive events: 

Tuesday, October 20

Debut New York hosts a trunk show for emerging designer Fabiola Arias. Fabiola is a recent Parson’s graduate whose unique style has already generated a following within the international fashion community - please visit www.fabiolaarias.com. Meet the designer and enjoy complementary cocktails from 5-7 at Debut.

 

Wednesday, October 21

Lucia Tait and Amanda Sheppard of Coup de Coeur

Host a shopping event at Debut New York

Featuring the Fall 2009 collections of Karolina Zmarlak and jewelry designer Holly Fulton

Appearance and clinic 1-6pm

Cocktail reception 6-8pm

Please contact us directly at info@debutnewyork.com or 212.343.2717 for inquiries

Gray Days and Bright Nights

Last week we wrote about one of our favorite new brands emerging from the U.K. and launching with Debut this season. This week we feel compelled to wax poetically about another such brand, and it’s quite the foil to Felder Felder’s stormy palette and studded glamour. Louise Gray’s eponymous collection of separates, including the slickest denim and softest chiffons we’ve pawed this fall, also launches with Debut for Autumn/Winter 2009. Gray bases her collections on the credo that things never have to be as they seem, an ethos that she executes in a diverse offering of signature – yet far from basic – silk chiffon tunics, bright hues and through-the-looking-glass arrangement of textures and materials. 

This season Gray ushers in plush, form-fitting optical cashmere knits, neon layers of chiffon with hand-sewn embroidery and a take on the omnipresent “jegging”, a skinny, dark jean backed in black cotton spandex with a subtly sinister pointed stud at each hip. These have the lovely, and as of yet untapped party in the front, business in the back appeal – pair with an elongated tuxedo jacket, or a slouchy, soft knit and spiky heels. We love each distinctive piece; however what captured our immediate attention (and will surely steal yours) are the mirror adorned pieces. A cropped denim bustier has the controlled chaos of glass shattered, then artfully rearranged and stitched down to create a new form. The effect lends definition, shape and depth to the design, a jewelry-like approach that Gray also daringly applies to a delicate chiffon tank dress.

The Louise Gray collection is a harmony of colors and textures fit for glittering city streets, dark corner booths and smoky dance floors.

* Denim and mirror-embroidered cropped bustier top

* Denim / cotton stretch skinny jean

      

* Fuchsia/grey marled cashmere open-backed tunic-length sweater.

* Lemon/eggplant silk chiffon mirror-embroidered sleeveless mini dress

For inquiries and order information on the Louise Gray collection please contact Debut New York at info@debutnewyork.com or 212.343.2717.

All Day and All of the Night

The sensory experience of donning a Rolling Stones tour performance jacket, its metal beads, the silky lining – even in paper-thin black leather – the jacket clings to you; its weight wraps around the curves of your shoulders, and drapes, then molds perfectly, enhancing a certain element of your persona the moment it meets your frame. It’s the epitome of a second skin. A lofty description, perhaps, but fitting in reference to Felder Felder’s jacket of this very sort: a cropped, studded, destined-to-be-forever piece from their Autumn/Winter 2009 collection.

Felder Felder is a collection of inspired separates designed by twins Daniela and Annette Felder. Born in Germany and now based in London (this entry is in line with last week’s promise to provide a discourse on the great brands emerging from the U.K.) the sisters have quietly, yet quickly generated an elite fashion following, and significant industry accolades with designs deriving from a signature aesthetic pairing reinterpreted grunge with all day/all night glamour; soft construction with hard embellishments and overall sophistication and polish with a certain louche sensibility.

The collection debuted for Spring 2008 with a showing at London Fashion Week, and we quickly recognized an instant appeal and depth to the brand. Debut New York has introduced Felder Felder in Manhattan for Autumn/Winter 2009, and has a range of key pieces, including a skinny pant in graphic, asymmetric black and white tie-dye, a softly draped coat dress closing at the waist with a hint of studding, and a personal favorite: the black leather jacket detailed with patch-like smatterings of gold and silver nailhead studs. There’s also a perfect black mini that masquerades as a refined ballet-inspired look by day, and party dress by night.